Mississippi residents will be voting to fill two senate seats this election cycle. The upcoming election on Nov. 6 will be the first opportunity for many young Mississippians to vote.

According to Hannah Newsome, a high school senior from Magee, her first election is an important one.

“You know it is just we have a bigger impact than people like to give us credit for,” Newsome said. “Even though politics isn’t always talked about a lot at school, it is something important that needs to be talked about because when we hit 18, you know, it is something that we are going to have to go do and we don’t really know stuff about it.”

According to high school senior Bonnie Hill, from Madison, the new generation of voters is bringing a new perspective to the election.

“In general, I think it has a lot to do with technology and social median and all these things where ideas can spread so quickly,” Hill said. “This generation isn’t going to just take what their parents say at face value, but they are actually going to investigate on their own and do their own research to be like ‘What do I actually want to believe?’ and ‘What do I actually want to see happen in my community?’”

One of the two senate elections is to fill the seat left vacant by Thad Cochran’s retirement. Cindy Hyde-Smith, Mike Espy, and Chris McDaniel are competing for Cochran’s seat while David Baria and Roger Wicker battle for the second seat. University of Southern Mississippi student Brandon Rue believes that this generation will impact the election.

“I believe that the youth is going to affect the election very much, simply because when youth get out and vote in large numbers, we tend to change the outcome of the elections,” Rue said.

Similarly, Shameka Jackson, a high school journalism adviser from Batesville, believes greatly in the young Mississippians and their influence.

“I think that if majority of them get out and vote, like they should, that we would get the results that we need,” Jackson said. “I think that a lot of them are going to take the initiative to make sure that they are going out and voting so that their voice can be heard, and I think that this upcoming age group plays a major part because they have to know that right and they need to voice their opinion.”

Hill plans exercise her right to partake in the voting.

“I’m just excited to be able to take advantage of the opportunity I have to really be a citizen and to be an active citizen,” Hill said. “To me, the midterms are more important than the presidential elections because it directly affects us, and so I’m excited just to be able to have a direct impact on the community.”